Page 1 of A Twist of Luck (Shifter City Fated Mates #2)

CHAPTER 1

HUNTER

K icking through the bodies sprawled at my feet, I ignored the stench of blood, shit, and death permeating the air. I stopped in front of the only one still breathing, blood spattered from his mouth as he coughed, and knowing he wouldn’t be alive much longer, I pressed my boot against his chest. “Who took her? Who took my omega?” My rage was a living entity, seeping into those harshly bitten out words, but he was too injured to even register my lethal intentions.

Behind me, Kellan growled from where he paced, alternating between his own fury, and an overwhelming sorrow that almost brought him to his knees. Finley kept him propped up, focusing on Kellan rather than his own feelings. The bear shifter hadn’t said one word since we’d tracked down everyone involved in the attack on our pack mates, but he’d been by our side the entire time.

The alpha on the ground gurgled once more, and I pressed harder with my boot. “If you answer me, I’ll end your suffering fast,” I promised him. “Or you can feel more agony than you thought was possible in your final minutes.”

Another cough, the blood darker and congealed this time, which meant he was almost done. His pulse was sluggish too. This motherfucker had better not check out on me before I could make good on my promises.

I was an alpha of my word, after all.

“Sil—Silver City.”

I almost missed what he said as he choked on his words, but he got there in the end. I felt a coil of satisfaction—my first emotion other than rage and fear since the attack. I’d been in the final Summit meetings when I’d felt the explosion. I might not have been bonded to Emmeline Anders, the final of our quintet, and our omega, but my wolf had a strong bond to Slade. I’d felt his pain and fury as he’d taken the blast. Not even one minute later, Kellan had rung me in a frantic mess, and we were at the site of the attack twenty minutes later.

But it had been too late.

Slade had dropped a ton of bodies, but not enough to prevent them from being taken.

The attackers must have had a veritable army on their side. I had no idea how they’d even made it into the city. We might have tracked down the rest of these hired mercenaries, but someone from Golden Claw let them into the city. We had a fucking traitor, and while my focus was on finding Emme and Slade, whoever betrayed us would pray to the goddess for death.

“We need to bring in our enforcer squads and go after them,” Warrick said, as he kicked one of the fallen shifters in the side. He was an entitled alpha who had befriended my omega, and while he pissed me off to no end, he was also too powerful to turn away as an ally. Especially while Emme was in trouble.

“We don’t have fucking time,” Finley snarled, and I almost detected a hint of panic in his first words.

Warrick wiped a hand over his face, smearing a few of the spatters of blood he’d picked up in our fights with the mercs. “They’ve got a decent head start on us, but we know where to go now. In Silver City, you’ll be able to track them easier.”

“Fin is right,” I snapped. “If we bring in the squads, we need to go through the Alpha Council or it turns into an act of war. The legal route will take time, and I’m not willing to wait another second. We’re heading to Silver City unofficially, which means weapons and a plan.”

“Weapons aren’t an issue,” Kellan all but howled, his wolf strong in his words. He ran his hand through his hair over and over until it stood on end. “You know I have a decent stash of Reeves Industries tech, along with guns and blades.”

Kellan was a weapons expert. His dad—a former enforcer—had taught him to shoot, wield a blade, crossbow, and multiple other weapons, along with fight training. Kellan went even further by collecting his favorite range of weapons, which would come in handy today.

“Make sure you pack Taser S,” I told him.

Kellan was the inspiration for my patented technology, which could zap a shifter and keep them stuck in a form between beast and man, shifting back and forth constantly. It wasn’t completely debilitating against an alpha—I’d never invent a weapon that could be used to hurt my pack. But it would still stun them long enough to give us an advantage.

We were definitely up against other alphas. I could scent their power all over the scene of the attack.

“I’ll pack everything useful,” Kellan said with a nod, his eyes focusing as he got on board with the plan.

“Go and help him, Fin,” I said. “We’ll head for the airport within the hour.”

Our Gulfstream G700 had been fueled and waiting since the attack. I’d had a feeling the alphas would take Emme and Slade as far from Golden Claw as they could. Get out from under us, and where we were our most powerful.

Silver City was a five-hour flight, and it was already nearing morning—none of us had slept since Emme was taken, and I doubted I would again until she was safe. Slade too, but my dragon brother was a tough bastard who could take care of himself.

“I’m coming too,” Warrick said shortly. “I’ll be at your place in twenty-five minutes. Don’t leave without me.”

I preferred to keep this within my own pack, but I wouldn’t turn down the help when I had no idea what we were up against. “We won’t wait. Don’t be fucking late.”

With a snarl, Warrick turned and raced toward his Range Rover, disappearing in a cloud of dust. Finley and Kellan slapped a hand on my shoulder and left in Finley’s TRX, and I stood in a field of dust and dead shifters.

The one I’d questioned remained alive and coughing up a lung, and I crouched down until I was eye to eye with him, his body propped against a tree. My wolf claws appeared in a partial shift, and I tore out his throat in the quick death I’d promised.

Wiping my hand on my suit pants, I retrieved my phone from my pocket and dialed my assistant. “Casey, I need a cleanup team out by the racetrack. At least a dozen bodies.”

There was no hesitation in her reply. “On it, boss.”

Casey had been with me for over ten years because she took whatever I threw at her and made it better. Without question. In this situation, I needed the bodies to go away so I didn’t have to deal with the rest of the Alpha Council before we headed for Silver City.

When I reached my bike, I cleaned my hands more thoroughly on a towel from my bag while I mentally ran over the plan. We’d land in Silver City just after lunch, then we’d track our pack mates using tech and our beasts to follow the bond.

When I figured out where they were, the approach would be crucial. We’d have to take our time or risk spooking their attackers, which could put our pack in danger. I wouldn’t make any firm decisions until I saw who and what guarded Emme and Slade.

Slade especially.

They held the strongest alpha in the world, and if he hadn’t escaped and torn them to pieces, they knew what it took to keep him contained. The most likely scenario was that they had a witch on their side and used magical restraints. My brother, Slade Riverson, was the last dragon shifter in the world, and while most magic would simply bounce off his skin, if they found a strong enough witch…

Whipping out my phone, I sent Kellan a text to also bring the ShiftLar, an iron-laced armored vest I’d invented to shield against low level magic and spells. His reply came through instantly, and satisfied with our plan, I kicked my leg over my bike and started the engine.

As the powerful motor thrummed under me, I dialed the one number I’d never wanted to use again. “Hunter.” The purr of her voice was familiar, even though I hadn’t heard it in almost five years. Jewels was born and raised in Mexico but barely had an accent. The witch was well over fifty years old, while looking twenty-five , and had lived in America for at least half those years. “It’s been a long time, love. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I need your help.”

Four simple words shouldn’t burn, but here the fuck we were. For Emme, I’d burn in a much hotter hell than Jewels Amaro.

My bike was loud as I took off along the main road back to town, my phone pressed between my ear and shoulder. Jewels’ silence was weighty, and I let her have the moment. As the entitled alpha of our quintet, I was used to commanding and getting what I needed immediately, but that wouldn’t work with Jewels. She played a whole different game, and I frankly wasn’t in the mindset for it today. But I had no choice.

I was almost back at the house by the time she responded. “I’ve waited a long time to hear those words, mi corazón .”

Gritting my teeth against the urge to insult her, I instead responded calmly. “You know I wouldn’t call unless it was urgent. They took Slade.”

She’d always had a soft spot for the dragon. Her need to fix broken alphas would have been her downfall if she wasn’t so damn powerful.

“My dragon is hurt?” There was a stronger purr in her voice now, the accent bleeding through as her magic almost reached me, sending my wolf into an uneasy stir. Shifters might have been created from a witch’s curse, merging human and beast, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed the trickling of icy magic down my spine.

“I don’t know if he’s hurt or not. We tracked down some of the mercenaries, but Slade had already been taken to Silver City, according to the intel we received. You know the only way they can hold him is with magical restraints, and I don’t want to go in underprepared. Will you help us?”

“Give me five minutes.” She hung up abruptly, and I was happy to be off the phone.

In the garage, I left my bike in its usual spot and forced my gaze to move past the empty spots where Slade and Emme’s bikes should have sat. Both were totaled in the attack, lying in broken heaps out in the open desert lands.

Kellan had blamed himself for a solid fifteen minutes when he’d found the crumpled remains of the pink bike he’d gifted Emme, tearing into the wreckage until it was scattered across the sand. They’d need a metal detector to find all the parts now.

That destruction was nothing on what we’d bring if our pack mates weren’t returned to us. In perfect condition. Our tenuous holds on our beasts would snap and we’d ravage this fucking world to the ground without a single care for the fallout. The only reason I hadn’t lost it yet was my ability to focus on retrieving my pack. But eternal darkness hovered at the back of my mind.

A darkness that if let loose would make even my father look like a saint.

“Weapons and ShiftLar are packed,” Kellan shouted as I marched into the main foyer, my dirty boots slapping against the marble. “I grabbed some clothes for you, so just shower and change into Tactical gear before we head out.”

“Warrick here yet?” I asked.

He shook his head, blue eyes wide and focused as he peered through the front door to doublecheck. “Not yet.” Kellan was dressed in black cargo pants, boots, and a fitted shirt. He had the armored vest strapped over his chest, and multiple weapons already secured around his body.

“I meant what I said. I’m not waiting for him.”

Kellan nodded, as Finley bit out harshly, “Nope, no waiting.”

Finley wore black too, but his vest wasn’t strapped properly yet, and he had no weapons. Our bear shifter could fight, but he preferred to use his hands. His expression remained neutral as he watched me and then Kellan, and I had no idea what he felt deep inside. He’d fallen into hating Emme for her rejection, which had triggered him back to his shitty upbringing. His parents were on par with my dad, and that was fucking saying something. He was here though, and clearly prepared to fight for our pack.

Which was more than enough for now.

“I’ll get cleaned up,” I said, kicking off my boots. Florence, our housekeeper, wouldn’t freak if I tracked blood and dirt through the house—she was far too used to it—but I didn’t want to leave a ton of work for her.

Taking the stairs four at a time to reach my bedroom, I threw off my clothes and dove under the icy spray of the shower. It took me a full five minutes to get all the blood out of my hair, and when I was clean, I pulled out one of my rarely used enforcer outfits. I hadn’t dressed in black tactical gear since the day I quit to take over as entitled alpha and the CEO of Reeves Industries.

As the thick material of the pants and shirt settled over my skin, I enjoyed the sensation of being out of suits for once. Shame it had to be under these circumstances. Slade had been trying to get me to run with his squad all year, but I’d been too busy. Another one of my regrets.

“Hunter!” Kellan’s shout echoed up through the house as I ran down two sets of stairs, jumping the last flight to land in the foyer. “What the fuck is that crazy bitch doing here?”

The front door was open, and I saw Warrick first, followed by a tiny blond witch. “Kellan, baby,” Jewels crooned. “You know I love you. I never meant to curse you to pee a little every time you laughed.”

Kellan growled, his hands shifting to claws as he launched for her, only to bounce back off her magical protection field. “Enough!” I snapped. “Kellan, we need Jewels. They clearly have magic on their side. And considering you slept with her sister and bailed, you’re lucky she lifted the curse after a week. Let’s call it a fair exchange and move the hell on.”

Jewels threw her head back and laughed loudly. “Goddess, have I missed you boys. Just like old times, right?”

She went to throw her arms around me and I sidestepped the embrace. “Not like old times at all,” I warned her. “This is a normal exchange, where we pay you for your services.”

She opened her mouth, but I wasn’t about to let her dictate any of the terms. “With cash only. We pay you an exorbitant amount of money and you back us up with magic. Deal?”

Jewels was pretty, with full pink lips, olive skin, dark eyes, and wavy blond hair, but as she pouted all I felt was annoyance. The witch couldn’t hold a candle to my omega, and it pissed me right off that we even had to call in an outsider to help with pack business.

For Emme and Slade. I would need that reminder a lot over the next twenty-four hours.

“Fine, Hunter, you big meanie.” The pout disappeared and she was all business. “This is a freebie anyway. I owe Slade. For him, I’ll level those fuckers to the ground.”

This was the Jewels we needed, and even Kellan looked appeased as his dominance simmered down. We all knew that with her assistance we had a much stronger chance of successfully retrieving our mates.

“Let’s do it, then,” Finley said shortly, heading out the door. “We’re wasting time.”

We followed him to where the Range Rover sat out front, the ass end slammed with the weight of the weapons. As I started the engine, I cursed how long it would take us to get to Silver City. Even with our powerful plane, it was too long. If it was only me, I would have convinced Jewels to use witch portals, but she couldn’t take us all without wiping herself out for days. Which meant traveling the old-fashioned way.

Hold on, little omega. We’re coming for you.